Day 6 Portland, Oregon

I'm so sleepy despite the fact that I've been drinking coffee/cappuccino all day long.  Earlier in the week, I discovered that I actually do have a limit of caffeine intake, and today I realized that over these last few days, that limit no longer holds true.  My body is saturated with so much caffeine that I'm breathing coffee.  Give me more!!!  Haha, no...I think I should hold off until tomorrow morning ;)

So yesterday was a good day, even though my morning started off with a lady bicyclist who shouted out to me "Close your umbrella!" as she passed me by on the Hawthorn bridge.  I miss Texas...  In class, we did have some more hands on practice on the espresso machines.  Then we went coffee house touring where we started off at Crema.  One thing about businesses in Portland is that they don't make their signs highly visible from the outside.  Jared explained that the natives of Portland enjoy having their own little secret spots that only they (as regular customers) are aware of.  I thought that was a little odd because to me it seems like businesses are cheating themselves from gaining new customers.  Had I not known the place existed on the street corner and I was walking in that area, I most likely would have passed it up.  We also visited Stumptown Rostery, which was pretty interesting.  Coffee beans actually are not beans at all.  Rather, they are the seeds of the coffee cherries that grow on trees.  Every cherry yields two coffee seeds.  When the coffee seeds have been extracted from the cherry and have gone through a drying process, they are sent as "green" coffee beans to roasters, i.e. Stumptown.  So at Stumptown Rostery, I was able to see the process of how the green coffee beans get roasted to become the brown coffee beans we all are used to seeing.  We also went to Cafe Umbria and Barista.  Barista is one of the newest coffee shops in town and was mentioned as having some of the best quality espressos in the area.  I have to say, the cappuccino I had today from there was mighty fine.  O'Ba's was next, where we went as a group.  Later on...Laura and I had another opportunity to learn another lesson :/  

As for today, I struggled to stay awake in the beginning of class.  However, as the day progressed and we started sampling Jared's non coffee drinks such as variations of Chai tea, the day got better.  We even made grilled paninis for lunch today and Italian sodas.  Yum!  We had some more practice on the machines later in the day where I actually had made (sloppy but still pretty) latte art!  Yay!  I was extremely excited :)  I can't wait for tomorrow, almost the whole day dedicated to perfecting our barista skills and learning to make latte art.  After class, I stopped by my hotel then went exploring downtown.  I hopped on the streetcar and headed up to Pearl District to eat at the Noodle Company.  The guy who worked there wasn't friendly at all.  I would have talked to the manager about his attitude, but I didn't really have the time to waste on him...so Brian, you got lucky this time >:'o  After buying a pair of squirrel underwear (not for me, but actual underwear for squirrels) I had a cappuccino from Baristas afterwards.  Then I had some GELATO!!!  The place was called Mio Gelato, and the combination of banana and coconut gelato was absolutely wonderful.  Yum.

 

Day 5 Portland, Oregon

The fourth day of training was rather fun, but I'll have to write about it tomorrow.  Off to bed where I'm sure I'll be dreaming of twisting off bat heads and sucking their brains out...Goodnight.

Day 4 Portland, Oregon

Ok, so I skipped Day 3 because nothing really interesting happened.  We had another full day of lecture, which covered very important topics for the specialty coffee business.  I ended up going straight to my hotel after class with the intention of going back out.  However, I wasn't really up for facing the cold rainy weather again, so I ended up staying in my room the remainder of the night.  Then I started to get hungry, and since this hotel oddly doesn't have a restaurant or a single vending machine at the least, I went straight for my yogurt granola bar box.  Surprisingly, I discovered that the cleaning lady stole one of them!  And after I was just thinking how well of a job she had been doing on my room...  I didn't say anything because it's not really worth making a big deal about it, but still!!!  

Today, Day 4 of the trip, was pretty fun.  I started off with a delicious breakfast in the morning at the hotel - raspberry yogurt, a raspberry cream cheese pastry, fruit and orange juice.  Then I took some coffee to go and another cream cheese pastry to eat on the way...I can't seem to control myself with the pastries or anything sweet for that matter :/  After walking to school in a surprising beautiful sunny morning, I was given a freshly prepared latte.  SO GOOD.  I didn't even have to add any sugar, which is what I'd normally have to do.  Seriously, I don't think I'll ever revert back to Starbucks...not trying to be a coffee snob or anything, but after tasting what the stuff should really taste like...um yeah.  We spent most of the day learning how to grind, tamp, pour the perfect shot of espresso, steaming milk correctly and equipment maintenance.  I still need practice but what I prepared was at least tolerable to drink.  After class, Laura and I tried out Cypress for dinner, a Greek restaurant by the waterside.  The food was great but the prices where even better!  I later ventured off on my own to explore other parts of the downtown area.  I ended up stopping at a place called "Dena's Cafe," and ordered a latte just to compare their quality with what I had just tasted today at the school.  I notice their technique of preparation was slightly different.  More specifically, their tamping technique was the exact way we were told not to do it, lol.  The latte art wasn't too impressive but the taste of the latte wasn't horrible either.    Alright, I'm out!

Day 2 Portland, Oregon

I started off my day pretty bad when I had no choice but to take a cold shower.  I knew things were too good to be true at this hotel.  It turns out after I called the front desk, that the whole 4th floor of the hotel was without hot water.  As you'd expect, I wasn't a happy camper this morning.  However, I managed to warm up in the room while getting ready by turning the thermostat to about 78 degrees F.  By 7:15 AM, I finally left the room and started my walk to the school, which turned out to be nice despite the coldness hitting my face and my ice cold hands.  The walk over the bridge was somewhat scary as I was crossing the very top, as I could hear and feel the bridge shake every time a large vehicle passed by.  By 7:35 AM I found the ABC school (with the help of the teacher who, after a few minutes had passed, realized with my confused/lost look on my face that I was one of the students).  He bought me a cappuccino at the coffee shop by the school, which was delicious, and soon enough the other four students arrived.  My day at class went well...so much information in just one day.  I look forward to tomorrow and the other days ahead, especially when we actually get to do hands on training with the espresso machines.  By 4:30 PM, class was over and two other girls and I left for the downtown area.  Of course, it started to rain with the wind becoming so strong that my brand new umbrella flipped up and ended up breaking on me.  I had no choice but to continue in the rain with what little cover my jacket hood offered.  By the time I got to the hotel, I noticed the employee just smiled at me while opening the door for me and Laura...I realized why after seeing my reflection on the glass door!  About 15 minutes passed and with the help of some of the hotel staff and a random guy at the bus stop, we made our way in a street car to Pearl District where we found some pretty cool shops, including the biggest bookstore I've ever seen.  Dinner at a noodle place was pretty good and reasonably priced.  Heading back to our hotels was quite the experience...out of everything we learned today, I'd say the most important thing to remember is that it's a good idea to pay attention where you're standing because a sidewalk is not always just a sidewalk.  Enough said.  

Portland Coffee House

I left Stumptown in search of something to eat for dinner and I ended up at the Portland Coffee House.  I have to say, the cappuccino was excellent.  However, after just leaving Stumptown, it’s hard to beat their unique atmosphere.  This place is obviously smaller in size with a more cozy-homey feeling, which is not a bad thing if that’s more of your taste but I’m more into the artsy modern look.  I’m also not a fan of the dim lighting…it’s too yellow in here!  The Portland Coffee House seems to cater to a wider range of ages.  I’d say the people currently in here range anywhere from mid 20s to 40s.  I like the fact that it’s located in the corner of a block so there’s seating all along the windows.  It’s nice to sip coffee and look at people outside in the coldness and then think to myself how good it feels to be warmed by the hot goodness going through my body…yum!  And Yikes!  It’s dark outside and I have no clue where I am…ciao!!!

Day 1 Portland, Oregon

So my first day in Portland, Oregon has been COLD.  Ok, maybe not extremely cold, but cold enough…like in the high 40s?  Yeah, that’s freezing to me…but I managed to walk my way through town in my coat and scarf.  I feel weird wearing a scarf, as this is the first time I ever have a need to use one.   I think I fit in though (I hope, lol).  So after figuring out how to ride the Red Line Max from the Airport and managed to get off at the right stop, I started my 7 block walk to Hotel Modera.  What a workout!  Try walking a hilly 7 block path in cold rainy weather while pulling a huge suitcase and carrying a travel bag on one arm and a SLR camera case on the other.  Ugh, my right shoulder still aches...  Anyways, I got to my hotel room and was surprising pleased with it so far.  It definitely lives up to it’s name.  After spending about 15 mintutes in the hotel room getting settled, I decided to take a stroll downtown.  I had no destination in mind but lucky me, I ended up finding a coffee shop along the way.  I entered it without knowing the name of the place and soon realized that I had landed myself in “Stumptown Coffee!”  This is one place I had already planned on visiting on my trip so I was happy to randomly stumble across this place.  This is actually where I’m writing from right now.  First impression?  Hip and trendy…I’d come back again.  I noticed right away that the customers are mainly college aged students, although there was an older man up ahead of me in line.  When I saw the menu, I also noticed the prices are not nearly as high as Starbucks.  So my turn came next in line to order and I ended up ordering a “Machiato.”  They handed it over to me within 4 minutes, so the wait wasn’t bad at all.  I’m so used to the caramel macchiato in Starbucks that as soon as they handed me my macchiato, I didn't even me think about it needing it needing sugar.  Man was I wrong!  The stuff was extremely STRONG, I nearly crossed my eyes!  After putting a ton of sugar, I decided it wasn’t so bad after all.  Actually, I rather enjoyed it.  The clover design was not as clear as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty artistic.  While sipping my coffee, I also started taking pictures of the place but the barista noticed me taking pictures towards his way when he turned around (I guess he thought I was taking pictures of him?) and kept a close eye on me there and after.  I just managed to get some more shots, but I don’t want him to think I’m continuing to check him out, which I wasn’t!  Really, I wasn't...  I do notice, however, that he’s extremely good at what he does.  He’s taking orders, making drinks, cleaning dishes, having short conversations with customers, making suspicious looks at me, and much more.   There is one other person working, but he seems to be one in charge and making sure things run smoothly.  There seems to be a continues feed of customers and I actually think they need more seating. Oh! and now the line seems to be building up and the man is on his own, oh no!  Well, I shall go now.  I will hopefully return at least one more time.